FAUNA AND FLORA OF SINAI, PETRA, AND WADY 'ARAB AH. 53 



minima, D.C.; Trianthema pentandra, Linn.; Eclipta alba, Linn.; Penta- 

 tropis spiralis, R. Br.; SalsolacecB (several); Digera arvensis, Forsk.; 

 Boerhavia verticillata, Poir.; B. repens, Linn.; Euphorbia csgyptiaca, 

 Boiss.; Cyperus eleusinoides, Kunth., and some others. Several of these 

 are distinctly tropical, and add to that most interesting group of those 

 plants already known to inhabit the ' sultry Ghor.' 



I gathered altogether at the southern end of the Dead Sea about 

 225 identifiable species of flowering plants. The total there may reach 

 300. Many annuals and Mediterranean spring plants, especially of the 

 Leguminous and Cruciferous orders, were still in a young condition. 



I defer a fuller analysis for the present, merely remarking that the 

 flora of the Ghor, a unique locality, is even more interesting, and that in 

 no mean degree, than it has hitherto been shown to be. 



The Ghor has been visited by two competent botanists, Messrs. B. T. 

 Lownein 1864, and W, Amherst Hayne in 1872, both in Canon Tristram's 

 company. These gentlemen have, however, hardly dealt with the oasis of 

 Es Safieh. Mr. Hayne's essay, appended to Canon Tristram's ' Land of 

 Moab,' is only enough to make a botanist wish for more of it, while 

 Mr. Lowne's valuable paper, published by the Linnean Society, deals with 

 the south-western extremity of the Ghor, two dry desert widies whose 

 flora is the northern wave from Sinai and the 'Arabah, 



Although devoid of life, the sandy beach of the Dead Sea mentioned 

 above was full of interest. On it were strewed salted remnants of a 

 variety of insects, beetles, .spiders, locusts, and seeds which had been 

 floated from the Gh6r by the rivers and promptly killed and cast ashore. 

 Several of these were identifiable, although of no value as specimens. A 

 better collection in the same place was that of shells. In some places 

 these were thickly strewn, and I went through these natural museums 

 with the greatest care, obtaining thus several varieties not previously 

 found in Palestine. Amongst these are Planorbis albus, Mull.; Limncea 

 peregra, Desf.; Physa contorta, Mich.; Achatina {done I la) brondeli, 

 Bourg.; Ferrusacia thamnophila, Bourg., and a new species of Bulimus. 



The tamarisks near this were inhabited by a species of ant. These 

 make their home, in parties of 20 or 30, in a sort of purse of vegetable 

 matter, made out of scraps triturated together and worked into a smooth 

 papery lining. The species is Polyrhachis seminiger, Mayr., belonging to 



